The Pentagon will replace its top general in Afghanistan as President Obama tries to turn around a stalemated war. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday he asked for the resignation of Gen. David McKiernan. He said a fresh approach was in the U.S.'s best interest.

A major Pakistani military offensive in the northwest has killed up to 700 militants in the past four days, and the operation will proceed until the last Taliban fighter in the area is ousted, the country's top civilian security official said Monday.

Tens of thousands of civilians, many on foot or donkey-led carts, took advantage of a lifted curfew to flee Pakistan's embattled Swat Valley on Sunday, while the army said it had killed 400 to 500 militants in its battle against the Taliban.

The U.S. military called "extremely over-exaggerated" a report that as many as 147 civilians died in an incident involving American forces and the Taliban. It said investigators on Friday were still analyzing data collected at the two sites in western Afghanistan.

Alarmed by the increasing use of contractors to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, House Democrats are demanding that the military shift more of the lucrative work handled by U.S. companies to Iraqis and Afghans.

Sobbing relatives showed U.S. and Afghan investigators the demolished buildings and graves in two western villages where a local official said Thursday he collected the names of 147 people killed in a disputed incident involving American forces and Taliban militants.

Russia is expelling two Canadian diplomats in retaliation for NATO's recent expulsion of two Russian envoys from its headquarters, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, adding that it considered it had been forced into the move.